My sister, Edi, decided to take a traveling nurse assignment at Asheville, NC and at the last minute I decided to travel with her. We connected at the Eastern Iowa Airport the morning of June 2rd; I left my car in the airport parking lot. Lunch destination was O’Fallon, MO where we met Vicki, my niece and Edi’s daughter, and her husband Mark. After lunch, we departed and drove to the eastern side of Nashville, TN where we stopped for the night at Hampton Inn located in Mount Juliet, TN. After settling into the room, we had dinner at Red Lobster. Dinner was very good. And our next stop was Target, where we purchased some needed supplies. We planned on getting back on the road fairly decent time in the morning.

Got up, dressed, had breakfast, checked out, and was on the road by 6:30. We arrived in Asheville around 1:30 or so in the afternoon. The apartment complex was located, and Edi was able to get her keys. However, they did not work so we had to have the manager come over and let us in. She was going to have the maintenance person come and change the lock. Furniture and washer/dryer were to be delivered but neither company had shown up. After unloading all of Edi’s packed items from the car, we went out for a late lunch plus shopping for some supplies. When we returned to the apartment, neither items had been delivered. We started to unpack and put items away. And then we heard a truck; my sister went out on porch and flagged the truck down. It was the delivery for the furniture; they had been given the incorrect apartment number so Edi was fortunate she was able to “catch” them. After the furniture was put into place and the delivery truck left, we had dinner. And then we sat on the balcony talking while enjoying the beautiful scenery.

Tomorrow we are going to do some sightseeing.

Saturday morning, June 4^th, I went for a walk around the complex; there is a very nice swimming pool, exercise room and picnic/BBQ areas along with individual garden plots. We went to a couple stores looking at outdoor furniture and plants. I purchased a couple plants for Edi to place on her balcony. After bringing back purchases, we drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway about 50 miles. It is quite beautiful along with many twists and turns in the road!

We got back to Asheville around 2:30 in the afternoon and drove to Biltmore Estate, a 8,000 acre grand estate built by George Vanderbilt. My main objective was to get a picture of the mansion which we could not see from the road. It cost $60/person entrance fee and, because of lateness in the afternoon, we did not feel it would be worth the cost. Maybe another time!

On Sunday, did a “dry run” of where Edi will be working so she would not have to worry about finding the hospital early the next morning. And we stopped at Kinko’s where I printed out my boarding pass for the next day’s flight leaving Asheville at 7:00 a.m. Onward to Chimney Rock State Park and Lake Lure (an area we had been told would be a great place to stay in the fall for colorful leaves). The park is known for its 315 foot spire overlooking Hickory Nut Gorge and Lake Lure; there is also a waterfall. Sadly, the elevator to get to the top of the rock was out of commission and we did not want to walk up 400+ steps one way. We drove through Chimney Rock and drove around Lake Lure. We had lunch at La Strada on their large covered patio with good views of the lake.

After lunch and more exploring, we headed back to Asheville. It was a very nice, relaxing day. That evening we fixed salads for our evening meal.

Monday morning saw us up quite early…before 5:00 AM. While I got all my things gathered together, Edi fixed me a cup of coffee. And then we drove to the airport. It only took about 20 minutes so we arrived by 5:30. After saying good bye to Edi, I checked my luggage and got through security without any problem. And it was an uneventful flight home with my pulling out of the airport parking lot by 10:45 that morning. Good trip, beautiful scenery, and the apartment complex where Edi is living seems quite peaceful.